Welcome to CentreStage!
CentreStage hosts amazingly talented authors from around the world, showcasing their novels, sharing their inspiration or telling stories about their lives. Today, it is my tremendous pleasure to welcome an author local to my own whereabouts, the one and only Claire Kinton! Claire and I met at the recent Lincoln Inspired Festival and I remember being deeply moved by the inspiration for her debut novel, Dead Game… so over to Claire!
DEAD GAME
Finalist in the People’s Book Prize!
Thank you so much for having me on your blog today Nicky – I’m so delighted to be here. I love the fact that us authors are so supportive of one another. It makes the writing world all the more fun to be in.
Today, I really would just like to let you all know about my debut novel, Dead Game, the first in The Game Trilogy, and how it has been made a finalist in The People’s Book Prize (the literary world’s version of the X-Factor). As you can imagine I am delighted that Dead Game readers have responded and back in the Autumn, voted for my work – but now that it has made it into the finals, I need to start my mini campaign again and this is the week – voting ends on the 28th May 2013. So, let me tell you a little bit about Dead Game, why I wrote it and why you should vote for it.
Introducing DEAD GAME
The Game Trilogy, particularly Dead Game, was written in memory of my cousin Charles, who served out in Iraq 2003 – it’s about the journey of a young Lance Corporal whose life was cut short. It begs the questions, ‘are we really just a heavy mass of bodies made up of blood, bone and skin, glued to the Earth by gravity, running around creating a giant mess?’ It’s a question that will be answered with a thousand different voices. But in my moment of grief and as my atonement to my cousin, and every soldier who has stood for their country, Dead Game is my answer. The conflicts of today and the pressures that are on our soldiers shoulders are all too clear for us to see, particularly given the Woolwich Soldier news of yesterday.
Dead Game is an epic reflection of our wanting to connect with something bigger than ourselves; a fantasy entwining English patriotic family values and tradition with profound philosophy and spirituality and at the same time, it is the deepest love story. Uplifting all those who have ever loved and lost, it strives to put forward one answer to death and is an allegorical story of bravery, acceptance, friendship, trust and love, but in the same breath, it is the ultimate adventure of a soldier, propelled by the inconceivable motivation to survive.
With guardian angels, a cursed centaur and mythical saints, Lance Corporal Archie Fletcher battles his way through Transit, discovering an underwater world of ancient secrets and brawling with wild lions, enraged charioteers and venomous plants. With the Moon’s trickery endangering his sanity and a three-headed dragon that never sleeps blocking his path, Dead Game is no easy feat. The fantasy will whisk you away to a parallel world confirming the knowing deep within us all that the adventure of life must go on.
And there’s more…
The sequel to Dead Game and the second part in the trilogy, ‘Waiting Game’, was released on 3rd March 2013 with Ghostly Publishing Ltd and follows Sarah Walker after the tragic death of her cousin, Archie. Embarking on a long-awaited trip around the world she lands herself in a dingy Thai soi and runs into a forgotten rogue from her past. Terrified, Sarah flees and in doing so, finds herself in a ghostly world with warped satyrs, dual-headed snakes, and a wicked witch who plots to enslave her; trying to piece together the jigsaw of her past in time; the true meaning of friendship is at stake. Waiting Game is a dangerous journey but it is a fragile heart that travels it. Compelled to move on whether she wants to or not, Sarah’s scars run deep, but just how far will she go in an attempt to find Archie?
You can find DEAD GAME on AMAZON!
Supporting Charity
The Game Trilogy supports ‘The Soldiers Charity’ (Army Benevolent Fund), who gives a lifetime of support to those serving and retired soldiers and their families. My family could not have got through it without them, which is why a percentage of every book sold will be going to their life-saving cause.
Vote now: Dead Game is a Finalist in the People’s Book Prize!
Dead Game can only win with YOUR votes… it doesn’t cost anything to vote… all you need to do is click the link below, register, scroll down two books and click on VOTE FOR DEAD GAME – it will take 30 seconds, so please, please, please when you have 30 seconds spare, vote for my hero’s tale.
Every life is like a novel with the ending ripped out. Nobody really knows what is to come. My fantasy can be read on many different levels… teenagers particularly seem to have taken to it but really, it’s just a story about a soldier, gone too soon. I hope, if you read it, you can all relate to it and that it strengthens you.
With all my best wishes
Claire, thank you so much for visiting here today and HUGE congratulations on becoming a finalist in the People’s Book Prize. I wish you every success ~ let’s hope those voting fingers click away!!! 🙂 Here’s that link again:
http://www.peoplesbookprize.com/finalist.php#childrenFinalists_789
It was fabulous to meet you at the Festival, and I’m thrilled you could visit here today to spread the word about DEAD GAME!
Nicky Wells: Love & Thrills 